LLM训练可看作对索洛蒙诺夫先验的计算逼近,解释了其学习能力的本质。
Large Language Models as Computable Approximations to Solomonoff Induction
- 用算法信息论证明训练过程逼近索洛蒙诺夫先验
- 预测下一词即实现近似索洛蒙诺夫归纳,解释了小样本学习现象
- 提出基于低置信度选例的新方法,提升小模型性能
大语言模型(LLM)的快速发展亟需严谨的理论框架来解释其经验成功。尽管对LLM行为的理解已有进展,但现有理论仍分散,难以通过统一数学视角解释涌现现象。本文首次建立LLM架构与算法信息论(AIT)之间的形式化联系,证明两个核心结论:(1) 训练过程通过损失最小化实现程序长度优化,计算上逼近索洛蒙诺夫先验;(2) 下一词预测实现了近似索洛蒙诺夫归纳。我们利用AIT为上下文学习、少样本学习和缩放定律提供统一理论解释。此外,理论启示催生一种有原则的少样本示例选择方法:优先选择模型预测置信度较低的样本。在多个文本分类基准上的实验表明,该策略相比选择高置信度样本,在小模型上带来显著性能提升。本框架弥合了理论基础与实际模型行为之间的鸿沟,兼具解释力与可操作性。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
The rapid advancement of large language models (LLMs) calls for a rigorous theoretical framework to explain their empirical success. While significant progress has been made in understanding LLM behaviors, existing theoretical frameworks remain fragmented in explaining emergent phenomena through a unified mathematical lens. We establish the first formal connection between LLM architectures and Algorithmic Information Theory (AIT) by proving two fundamental results: (1) the training process computationally approximates Solomonoff prior through loss minimization interpreted as program length optimization, and (2) next-token prediction implements approximate Solomonoff induction. We leverage AIT to provide a unified theoretical explanation for in-context learning, few-shot learning, and scaling laws. Furthermore, our theoretical insights lead to a principled method for few-shot example selection that prioritizes samples where models exhibit lower predictive confidence. We demonstrate through experiments on diverse text classification benchmarks that this strategy yields significant performance improvements, particularly for smaller model architectures, when compared to selecting high-confidence examples. Our framework bridges the gap between theoretical foundations and practical LLM behaviors, providing both explanatory power and actionable insights for future model development.
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